Don't Blink
by nannygirl
Summary: Years into the future a very busy Steven Hyde receives some wise words about life from Red Forman. Very loosely based off the song by Kenny Chesney.


_**Disclaimer: **__I own nothing!_

_**Author's Note:**__ Hello All! I know it's been awhile and apologize for it, got really busy and pretty stressed out over here over the past few days but no worries things are back in order and you can expect updates in my other fics very soon. For no though I thought I'd post this little fic I've been working on the past few days. Been Listening to Kenny Chesney nonstop for the past month but I had a very good reason of course, had to make sure I knew all the words to all his songs for his concert I'm going to! And not just going to, going to later on today! Woohoo! Sure I drove my family crazy with all the songs and I bet they'll be very happy once the concert is over…even though I'll probably ramble on about it for days…anywoo I'm rambling now. Point is, I wrote this little oneshot kinda quickly but the song it's based off of and the message it sends out is really so beautiful and meaningful I thought it would make a really good story! Hope you all like and please review if you can! Enjoy!_

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><p>Don't Blink<p>

Steven Hyde sat in the kitchen of his home. He was trying to concentrate on the books and number and a bunch of other stuff he needed to do for _Grooves_. It used to be that he didn't care what came in or went out of the store, as long as it brought in some cash for his stash. But that was years ago. Many years ago…

"Daddy! Daddy!" a little voice called.

Hyde sighed, he loved his daughter dearly, but he really had to get this stuff done.

"What's up, Kathy?" he asked not sound too enthusiastic.

The seven year old little girl jumped into his lap. _'Just like her mother.'_ Hyde thought to himself.

"Guess what!" she asked her eyes filled with the excitement of Christmas morning.

"What?"

"Guess!" she demanded, was she ever her mothers' daughter.

"Um, something happened." Hyde guessed as he tried to write something down on the spreadsheet, that lay on the table.

"Yeah. Guess what it was." Kathy said pulling the pen out of her fathers' hands.

"Kathy, give me my pen." Hyde ordered.

Kathy held the pen closer to her, "You have to guess first."

"No," Hyde frowned and firmly told, "I have to finish this work first."

This time it was Kathy who frowned and gave out a pout. The words had come out harsher than Hyde meant them to, but she didn't know that.

"Fine." she hopped onto her feet and started to walk off.

Hyde sighed; he couldn't let her walk off mad. He didn't want her too. He knew he couldn't…but he had to get this in by the end of the week…but she was his little girl. Dropping both his shoulders and his pen; he stood up and tried to catch up with the tiny, but fast, little girl.

"Kathy…" he called after her as she left the kitchen.

"Ok Dad, we checked with the guys and everything's ready to go for next Saturday."

Hyde turned around to the second door that lead to the kitchen, there he saw his two sons. Fifteen year old Will and ten year old James. His two Mini-Mes, as his wife liked to call them. Both boys had their fathers' curly, light ginger hair, beautiful blue eyes, and government hating attitude.

Hyde rubbed the right side of his head, hoping the migraine would disappear.

"Next Saturday?"

"Yeah." Will nodded, "Remember? We were gonna go to the baseball game with Luke, Rob, John, Mike, Junior, and their dads."

Hyde mentally kicked himself. Of course the guys' night they had been planning for a month now. How could he have let that slip his mind? Not just now, but earlier too. Earlier, when he made plans for something else on that day.

"You forgot." James said softly.

There was a sting in his chest. How many times had he himself, at a young age, said that to Edna or Bud?

"No, I just…"Hyde struggled, "Look we're having a big sale at the store, to help bring in some new customers, that day. You guys can come in, help out, and get your share of the sales you make."

"Whatever." Will said to his father before walking out of the room. He was the child who mastered in being Zen.

"James…" Hyde said, getting ready to remind the young boy that Grooves was the reason for his new bike and if he wanted that new camera, Hyde was going to have to work.

"I'm going to the game and you can't stop me!" James shouted before running in the same direction of his older brother.

Hyde slumped down into his chair. Why did he have kids? He guessed it was really just the young ones who gave him a hard time. His oldest was more mature, more independent.

"Dad, can I have twenty bucks?"

Scratch that. Hyde looked up to find a petite, brown haired, beauty. The splitting image of her mother; complete with the ever so powerful pout.

"Steph, I just gave you twenty dollars last weekend." Hyde reminded, "No, I gave you forty."

"Yeah, and I spent it." she said as if it were obvious.

"On what?" Hyde asked not believing his ears. Great, now he had two big spenders! Now he _had _to make sure he sold enough CDs this month. Now he'd _have_ to work over time. Now he'd have his kids, not to mention his wife, mad at him.

"These shoes." she said happily, showing her father the red high heels on her feet. "Cute huh?"

"They're great." Hyde smirked, "Bet you can get more than what you paid for them too."

"Daddy!" Stephanie exclaimed, "They'll hear you!"

"Sorry kid, but that's the only way you're getting twenty bucks before next weekend." Hyde said firmly as he went back to work.

"But…"

"No."

"Ugh! I hate you!" she exclaimed before stomping off into the next room, passing her mother as she did so.

"What was that all about?"

Hyde turned to the sound of his wife's voice, "Jackie, are you sure we didn't get Laurie's kid when Steph was born?"

Jackie laughed as she shook her head while walking over to her husband. She wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked innocently.

"Working."

Jackie grinned, "You know how much that turns me on." she said softly before kissing his cheek and then down to his jaw line.

Hyde sat in his seat, enjoying the attention his wife was giving him. If he could, he would have kissed her back, cleared off the table with a sweep of his arm, placed her on top of it and made her one happy gal. But he couldn't, he had work to do and they had four, angry, kids in the house.

"Jackie, I really need to do this."

"I know something else you have to _do_ too." she replied with a sly smile.

"Jackie, seriously." Hyde said pulling away, showing his wife just how serious he was.

Slowly she slipped out of the embrace, never looking at him while she did; or while she walked over to the fridge. Terrific, now there were five people mad at him. That shouldn't last too long. As long as they left him alone, then he could do his work, then he could be the hero again with both time and money for his family.

"Your father scared off another nurse today." Jackie said as she and a bottled water sat down the chair beside Hyde.

"Yeah, when he does something wrong he's my dad." he scoffed.

"That's the third one this month." Jackie reminded, "That company's not gonna send anymore over there."

"Good." Hyde said never looking up from his work, "I told you he wouldn't want any help. He's too proud and independent. Mom probably wouldn't like it either."

"We've got to go over there to fix his dinner tonight."

Hyde practically threw himself against the back of his chair as he heard her words.

"Why us? Where's Forman?"

"He and Donna went the last time." she reminded.

"Laurie?"

"She and Fez are out of town, they won't be back till late."

"Kelso?"

Jackie shook her head, "The boys have a football game."

"Damn it Jackie, why do we have to do everything?" Hyde groaned, "We're already planning that birthday party, for him, for this weekend. Which by the way, he's gonna hate. And now we're stuck going over there tonight."

"First of all who is we? _I'm_ the one who's been planning the party and _I_ think he's gonna like it." Jackie argued, "Second of all, since when are you _stuck_ spending time with him? We don't know how much time we have left with him." she added softly.

Hyde sighed as he grabbed hold of her hand, "I know Jackie. I just, I have a lot of work to do."

Jackie frowned and her eyes showed the anger she felt inside, "Fine." she said standing up and walking to the swinging door, for the past two weeks that seemed to be the only thing Hyde said.

"Just stay here then. I'm taking the kids; you come whenever_, if ever,_ you get the chance." she said before walking out of the kitchen, leaving Hyde alone to finally get his work done.

"Yeah, like I can do anything now." he said out loud to himself.

An hour or so after Jackie and the kids left, Hyde took off to the old house himself. He would have left sooner, but he doubted anyone would have been too thrilled about that right now.

He opened the front door and walked inside. Growing up he never used this door, none of them did. They always used the back one, but now, Hyde could never bring himself to use that door in the kitchen; in fact he tried to avoid the room as much as possible.

Going through the front door, Hyde knew he was safe. Jackie was probably in the kitchen working on the meal and the kids were most probably down in the basement. That place now had two generations of kids hanging out there; however, it didn't receive as many visits as it once did.

Hyde walked out of the living room and into the den. There he was greeted by a figure behind the day's newspaper. He smiled slightly, some things never changed.

"Hey Red." he greeted taking a seat in the chair next to the elderly man.

"Hey dumbass." came Red's greeting never looking up from the paper. Now a days that seemed to be the way he greeted all six of them, with the exception of Jackie, who was still called, 'The Loud One.'

"So, you scared off another nurse today huh?"

"And you made the Loud One upset." he looked up from his paper, "Who do you think's in bigger trouble?"

Hyde smirked and shook his head and looked down, "Guess that'd be me." he looked up, "She told you about it?"

"She didn't have to." Red said as he looked back down at the newspaper, "She's been banging the pots around in there." he gestured towards the kitchen, "What did you do this time?"

"I don't know, Red." he said shaking his head, "I guess it's cause I was trying to get some work done and…she didn't want me to?" he said making the last part a question, because he wasn't exactly a hundred percent sure if that was the reason; he hoped Red would help him.

"Is that a question?" Red asked making sure he heard right.

Hyde sighed, "Red, I want what's best for my family, and to get that I've got to work my ass off right?"

"I suppose."

"Anyways," Hyde said trying to think of something to change the subject to; he didn't want to add a sixth person who onto his list. "Your birthday's this Sunday. A hundred and two, right?"

Red glared at his son, "Very funny. You want me to tell your wife you're here?" he threatened.

"No thanks." Hyde quickly answered before settling back into the chair, "So, seventy two." he said to the man who'd gone back to the paper, "Got any advice on the secret to life?"

Slowly Red looked up from the paper and over at Hyde, "You really wanna know?"

Hyde shrugged, "Sure."

Red gave a small chuckle, "Two simple words son," he said in a serious tone as he folded up his paper but left his reading glasses on, "don't blink."

Hyde scratched the back of his neck and frowned some, "Yeah, Red I don't think I can do that. My eyes get pretty dry and…"

"Listen smartass," Red interrupted, "I've been around for almost seven two years, I know what I'm talking about." he said firmly as he put aside his paper, "You think you've got all the time in the world, to do all things you want to do. But you don't."

Hyde frowned, the man was nearly seventy two and he was saying he wasn't going to have time?

"Time goes by a lot faster then you think it does." Red continued, "One minute your six years old and you take a nap then you wake and your sixteen getting your heart broken and, in yours and the other dumbasses case, corrupting my basement."

Hyde laughed, man those were good times. And now that he thought about it, it seemed just like yesterday that he, Eric, Kelso and Fez were sitting in a circle lighting up...incense down there. Now they were about to enter their forties. Damn they were old.

"A second later you're in your twenties; you're on your own. You and your wife." Red said softly, "The two of you have bought your house and are concentrating on turning that house into a home." he smiled slightly as he remembered carrying Kitty across the threshold of the front door.

Hyde and Jackie had lived in two apartments and another house before finally moving to where they were now. But for each new home there came excitement along with sadness of leaving the last. The house they lived in now was the one where they'd stay. Hyde would make sure of that.

"Steven, you've got four kids." Red stated the obvious, "You blink, and they're grown up on their own, married, parents themselves."

Hyde looked down, his kids were growing up; a lot faster than he would have liked. Stephanie was already eighteen, the other day she was sitting at the kitchen table filling out applications for college. That same table that she used to sit at when she was coloring in her coloring books.

"Although, it is fun as hell to see them go through what you went through with them." Red commented with a smirk and Hyde had to join in.

"And the next thing you know, your better half, the woman who's lived by your side and stuck with you through all the dumbass things you did for forty-four years, is lying in a hospital bed." Red went on to say in a distressing tone of voice.

Talking about Kitty's cancer was never an easy topic for Red to discuss, but he had to give Steven this piece of advice. He wished someone had done the same to him.

"She's there, fighting for her life and you're sitting by her bedside holding her hand, while praying to God that He'll take you instead."

Hyde was silent. Kitty's death had been hard on all of them; especially Red. Part of Hyde was convinced he still wasn't over it. Hyde had seen what Red had gone through, he saw him loose his wife, his best friend, the love of his life. He didn't even want to think about loosing Jackie. That was too far ahead…wasn't it?

"You've got to start putting the first things first, Steven." Red continued, pulling Hyde from his thoughts. "Family. Friends. Love. Those are your firsts, anything else, you can put off till the next day."

"Yeah but Red…"

"I know," Red interrupted, "you've got to make money to keep your family happy. But think about it, is money what really makes your family happy?"

Hyde didn't answer, he knew he wasn't supposed to.

"I can think of a handful of times when we were low on cash." Red said, "Sure we had to make a few adjustments and we weren't the damn Brady Bunch, but we were ok. We were happy because, as corny as it may sound, we had each other."

"Wow, Red Forman using a cliché. Didn't think I'd see the day." Hyde said with a smirk.

"Keep it up, smart mouth and I'll shove my foot up so far up your ass, you won't remember the day." Red threatened and Hyde laughed some.

"Alright, Red."

"I'm serious though, Steven." Red warned, "This world that we live in… it's a here today then gone tomorrow kind of world. So, take every breath God gives for what it's worth. You've got to slow it down, take in the everyday moments, and make time for the ones you love. When your hourglass runs out of sand, you can't just flip it back over and start again."

"Guess, seventy two years went faster than we think it did huh?" Hyde asked

"Damn straight." Red said with a nod.

Slowly Hyde stood up, "Thanks Red." he said slapping his hand on the elderly mans shoulder before making his way to the kitchen.

As he neared his way to the room, he could hear the innocent voice of his youngest daughter as she rambled on to her mother. Peeking into the scene, he saw Kathy sitting on the counter as Jackie stood at the stove mixing something in a sauce pan. Both of them were smiling and he couldn't help but do the same.

"And then the teacher said, 'Kathleen Hyde is…'oh hi daddy." the young girl said quickly changing her happy voice to a less cheerful one.

"Hey there, princess." he said kissing the top of her head.

Jackie never turned around.

"So what did Old Mrs. Robinson say you were?" Hyde asked his daughter.

"Nothing." she lied.

"Nothing?" Hyde asked trying to sound surprised, "Well that's not a very nice. It doesn't sound like her either. Come on Kathy, what did she say what you are."

The little girl sat with her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"I know one thing you are. A victim." Kathy frowned slightly at her father, "A victim of the tickle monster!" he exclaimed before tickling her little belly sending her into a fit of giggles.

Jackie kept her back to her husband but he caught a glimpse of her tiny smile.

'_Good, I've got one foot out of the dog house._' he thought to himself.

"Ok! Ok!" Kathy cried out and Hyde's tickling lessened, "She said I was Student of the Month!"

Pride immediately filled inside both her parents, as Kathy grinned largely.

"That's great, baby!" Jackie said happily as she embraced the little girl in a hug, before planting a loving kiss on her cheek.

"It's better than great." Hyde stated before searching for a word.

"It's awesome?" Kathy guessed and her father shook his head.

"It's better than awesome. It's…_Kathsome_!" he announced happily as he lifted her in the air and spun her around.

Kathy squealed and Hyde laughed and then Jackie joined in. At this rate, before he made up with her Hyde would be out of the dog house. Just then three unhappy campers entered the room from the basement.

"He's got time to spin Kathy around but he can't take us to a baseball game." Will muttered and his brother nodded.

"Or get a twenty from his wallet." his older sister added, "And come on, how long will that take?"

Hyde placed his youngest child back on the counter before turning to the three musketeers. He gave a smirk and reached into his back pocket.

"Not that long." he said as he held out a green paper to Stephanie.

"Oh my God, really?" she asked excitedly with her eyes wide.

"What you don't want it anymore?" Hyde asked with a small frown, "Ok that's fine, I'll just…"

Before he could finish he sentence or finish putting his money back into his wallet, Stephanie's hand grabbed hold of his.

"No!" she exclaimed, and then realized how loud she'd yelled, "I mean don't be silly, Daddy."

Hyde smirked as he handed the money to Stephanie and she gratefully took it before kissing his cheek. Two down and two to go. Hyde walked over to his sons.

"No matter how much you pay me," Will began as he slowly backed off, "I'm not kissing your cheek."

"I'll do it for forty." James said happily as he held out a hand. Hyde simply slapped the open hand before looking over at Will.

"I'm not looking for a kiss," Hyde told him, "I am a looking for something to do next Saturday though."

"I thought you said, _Grooves _was having a sale?" James asked

"Nah," Hyde shook his head, "I was thinking more of a baseball game with a couple of guys."

"Really?" James asked hopeful.

Hyde nodded, "Yeah, if that alright with you guys."

Will nodded his head, "Yeah, I guess that'd be cool."

Hyde smirked, that one was _so_ his son. "Cool."

Will continued to smirk once more before turning to his younger brother "Come on James, lets go shoot some hoops."

"Ok." James said as he followed his big brother to the side door, "Hey Dad, can you come play?"

Hyde smiled as he looked over at Jackie who was expecting him to make up some excuse.

"Sure, I can." both his sons faces lit up and Jackie's showed surprise, he knew he'd have to explain himself to her, "But you guys go warm up first, cause the second I get out there I'm gonna beat you both."

Will and James laughed at their father, mostly out of happiness and not mockingly. They couldn't believe their father was going to be able to play some ball with them. It had been awhile since that had happened.

As the boys left outside the girls announced their own exits.

"I'm gonna go call Sara and tell her, how I have the best dad _ever_." Stephanie said before walking into the living room.

Kathy jumped off the counter, "I'm gonna go tell Grandpa about me being Student of the Month!"

Husband and wife stood alone in the kitchen. Jackie had gone back to stirring and Hyde was enjoying the view from where he was standing behind her.

"So," Jackie began, bringing his eyes upward, "The boys get a baseball game, Kathy gets spun in the air, and Steph gets twenty dollars." She turned around to face him, "You didn't forget about someone did you?"

Hyde smirked as he walked closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, "Never. Your present is coming later tonight." He whispered and she smiled.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Hyde nodded, "I've got a _flowchart_ to share with you."

Jackie closed her eyes, smiled, and moaned slightly. Boy, did he know how to turn her on. Opening her eyes again she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

The couple got lost in the moment, feeling like teenagers again, forgetting where they were, forgetting who was there…that is until they heard a familiar voice.

"Damn it! Not my kitchen! Don't you people have your own house?"

Jackie and Hyde broke apart and turned around to see their father figure standing at the doorway holding the hand of their youngest daughter,

"Sorry, Red." They both mumbled never pulling away.

Red rolled his eyes, "Come Kathy, let go back to the den." He told the little girl before they started to walk away, "You know what your mommy and daddy are?'

"Dumbasses?" the couple heard their little girl ask.

"That's right."

Jackie and Hyde shook their heads and leaned into to recreate their kiss before being interrupted once again.

"Dad, come on!" James called from outside.

"Yeah," Will agreed as he dribbled the basket ball, "stop sucking face with Mom and get outside."

Hyde shared a smile with his wife as he slowly ended their embrace. He headed to the door as his sons went back to their game

"Tonight?"

Jackie smiled, "Tonight."

Hyde grinned back as he watched Jackie turn her attention back to the stove. He felt a tug at his heart, he had to say it; if Red Forman could use a cliché he could have a cliché and corney moment. He knew it would give Jackie a moment fo happiness and that's the only type of moment he ever wanted to give her.

"Hey Jacks." he called and she turned around, "Don't Blink."

The End

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>__And there you go! So what did you think? Good? Bad? Ugly? I really hoped you all liked it!_

_Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, see you next time, take care, and have a nice day!_


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